


Working Up to It

by mousapelli



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Established Relationship, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Moving In Together, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:41:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29256894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mousapelli/pseuds/mousapelli
Summary: Kuroo's getting a promotion and a transfer to Sendai, which is perfect for turning his long-distance relationship with Tsukishima into near-distance. He just has to work up the nerve to ask Tsukishima what he wants.
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 14
Kudos: 54
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Working Up to It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mozaikmage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mozaikmage/gifts).



> Written for 2021 Chocolate Box. 
> 
> This is set soon after the end of the manga, where Tsukishima was set to start a job at the Sendai Museum after graduating university, and I figured Kuroo's promotions job could start an office anywhere.

[StrawberryShortKei] what time is your train?  
[Tetsucyline] anytime you wanna ride it babe  
[StrawberryShortKei] don’t be a dick  
[Tetsucycline] and it stops at aaaaaall the stations

Kuroo chuckled to himself, thumbing through his emojis to add a couple trains and a kissy face. He debated video-calling Tsukishima to torment him more directly, but he’d come over to Kenma’s right after work and he doubted Tsukishima would be won over by his rumpled suit and eye circles, plus Kenma was finishing up a stream. 

[StrawberryShortKei] dicks don’t get to eat my mom’s karaage

“Ouch,” Kuroo said. Kenma spared him a glance. Kuroo made a sad face. “Tsukki’s being mean to me. As my best friend, you should denounce him to your followers.” 

“Hmm,” Kenma said, thumbs clicking busily on his controller. “Bet you deserve it.”

[Tetsucycline] geez go for the throat much? gonna try and sneak out of work before rush  
[Tetsucycline] be there like 1900, 2000 at worst

“Did you ask him yet?” Kenma asked. 

“I’m working up to it,” Kuroo muttered, keeping his eyes on his phone. 

“You made Bokuto buy you celebratory ramen last week, but you didn’t actually ask Tsukishima to move with you yet?” Kenma’s eyeroll was almost audible. “Have you even told him that you’re getting transferred to his prefecture?”

“I panicked and sent him a dick pic,” Kuroo admitted. He scowled when Kenma laughed. “Oh, shut up. We can't all be edgy Twitch influencers.”

“One of us is supposed to be an adult, with a promotion and everything.” Kenma finished his round, dropping his controller in his lap and shaking out his wrists. “So maybe you should man up and ask your boyfriend to split rent with you before you end up commuting two hours to Sendai every day.”

[StrawberryShortKei] Might still be at practice, text me when you’re in  
[StrawberryShortKei] I set up a couple appointments to look at apartments in the morning before my game. 

“Uh yeah,” Kuroo said, frowning at his phone. “Seems like I’d better do that.”

The two-hour train ride to Sendai was pleasantly familiar to Kuroo from almost three years of long-distance dating, plus a handful of other trips before that to see Karasuno’s games or to help out with training camps. Usually Kuroo could catch a nap during the ride, recharge a little from a long day at work, but this time he was too keyed up, mulling over how to casually but persuasively ask Tsukishima to move in together. 

It wouldn't be the end of the world or something even if Tsukishima did say no, Kuroo tried to reason with himself. If Tsukishima wasn't ready to go right from distance to sharing a bathroom, that would be understandable, and if he wanted to try living on his own first, that would make a lot of sense too. Kuroo had moved into company housing for that exact reason after university, even though he could have got an exception from his company and continued living at home. 

But if Kuroo were being brutally honest with himself, he really would be disappointed if Tsukishima didn't want to. Distance had been hard between his work schedule and Tsukishima's university classes and team schedule, and Kuroo wasn't sure how much longer he could keep it up. And now he'd be starting the Sendai satellite office from scratch, so even if he and Tsukishima were in the same city but not crashing in the same bed, it would hardly be different if Tsukishima's new apartment were on the moon. 

At least Sendai apartments were likely to be cheaper than Tokyo even if he were paying the rent alone. 

"Get it together," he told his reflection in the train window, trying to shake off that defeatist attitude. "You're an adult with a paycheck and a cute butt, plus we'd get to sleep over for the first time without sharing a wall with his parents. Kei can't turn down that offer, no way."

Hoping to distract himself for the rest of the right, Kuroo pulled his iPad out of his bag and tried to catch up with this season's anime that he was hopelessly behind in. Bokuto proved a better distraction once he was out of practice, texting Kuroo encouragement and gifs of kittens. 

[BrokutoNobunaga]: POSITIVE VISUALIZATION BRO  
[BrokutoNobunaga]: oo check out this little dude with sunglasses

Kuroo was pleasantly surprised to get a text from Tsukishima just as the train was pulling in that his practice had let out with good timing and he would meet Kuroo at the station. Despite the knot of anxiety still lodged in the center of his chest and the fact that he couldn't exactly kiss Tsukishima senseless in the middle of the train station, Kuroo was still really glad to see him in person for the first time in weeks. 

"At least you look respectable," Tsukishima said, giving Kuroo a smile real enough to make his heart trip over itself. He was still wearing his contacts from practice, and his eyes looked so big and dark without being hidden behind his glasses that Kuroo had half a mind to drag him behind the coin lockers and kiss him senseless anyway. "Come on."

"Uh, isn't the exit the other way?" Kuroo asked, following Tsukishima into one of the other lines instead. He fumbled for his train pass, not having been ready to use it again, and the lady behind him tsked. 

"The person showing the apartments tomorrow is a senpai from university," Tsukishima explained as they walked. "She texted suddenly tonight to say there's a sudden opening in a complex that's hard to get into. She's doing me a favor letting us see tonight before it gets posted officially tomorrow morning."

"O-oh!" Kuroo swallowed, the knot in his chest tightening. 

"Sorry for the short notice, and the rush," Tsukishima said. "We'll get dinner right after. I promised you karaage."

"You promised me your mom's karaage," Kuroo pointed out. Tsukishima laughed, their eyes catching, and Kuroo's anxiety and affection both ratcheted up another notch. It was really now or never, apparently. "Hey, I have something I want to ask you.”

"Yeah?" Tsukishima asked as they reached the right platform. Kuroo opened his mouth, and just then the train rushed in, blowing both their hair back. Tsukishima pulled Kuroo by the wrist as soon as the people exiting the train had cleared, hustling to get a seat and sinking into it gratefully. "My legs are killing me from practice. What's up?”

"It's..." Kuroo glanced around the full train car. Most of them had earbuds in, but Kuroo still wasn't comfortable with the possibility of being shot down in front of two dozen Sendai commuters, plus the shopping grandma across the aisle who was definitely eavesdropping. "I'll tell you later. How was practice?”

"Long. Full of jammed fingers." Tsukishima tilted his head, looking at Kuroo more closely. "Do you miss it?”

"Yeah," Kuroo answered, thinking about what Tsukishima's sleeping face looked like, and how cute it was when he squinted first thing in the morning. "Every day. Want me to tape 'em up for you later?”

"That is not the sexy come-on that you think it is," Tsukishima answered flatly, making Kuroo snort a laugh. "Also that grandma across from us is definitely eavesdropping on us."

Half a dozen stops later, Tsukishima heaved himself to his feet and they got off the train. Kuroo looked around curiously as Tsukishima checked his directions on his email. 

"It's on the same line as the museum," Tsukishima explained. "Further out."

The neighborhood was nice enough, some shops and restaurants near the station but quietly residential after they'd crossed to the next block. After a ten-minute walk, Tsukishima led them off the main road and through a short zig-zag of side streets. It was mainly houses and apartments here, and the apartment building Tsukishima ultimately stopped in front of was definitely nicer than Kuroo would have expected. 

"Geez, what's the museum paying you?" Kuroo asked, peering through the glass of the entryway into the lobby. His company housing apartment sure wasn't this nice, but maybe that was just the difference between Tokyo and Sendai. Maybe Tsukishima didn't need him at all?

"Enough, I guess," Tsukishima said, distracted looking up the apartment number on his phone so that they could buzz up. 

"Wait," Kuroo said, catching Tsukishima's wrist as he was reaching for the intercom panel. His heart was speeding nervously, but it probably was now or never after all. "Wait, I just...Kei..."

"What?" Tsukishima asked when the words stuck in Kuroo's throat. Tsukishima's mouth pressed into a thin line. "Look, if you're about to tell me that you don't want to look at apartments together, hurry up and do it. We're already late so this is embarrassing enough."

"If I don't want to?" Kuroo echoed, confused. "Wait, isn't this an appointment you made on your own?"

"What did you think you were coming up here to do this weekend?" Tsukishima demanded. 

"To watch your game and eat your mom's karaage?" Kuroo said. Tsukishima's scowl upgraded to defcon 3, making Kuroo cringe. "I didn't even ask you yet if you wanted to move in together!"

"Of course you did!" Tsukishima snapped, reaching up to push up his glasses out of habit and poking himself in the face because he wasn't wearing them. "You called me when you got the promotion to open the Sendai office!"

"I...what?" Kuroo asked stupidly. 

"Oh my god, you don't remember," Tsukishima muttered, somehow looking relieved and more aggravated at the same time. "You drunk-dialed me from happy hour with your office and asked me to move in with you in front of all your co-workers! I hope they were too drunk to remember it too, ugh."

"No. Noooo. Really?" Kuroo scrubbed a hand over his face. "Did you say yes?"

"OF COURSE I....of course I said yes!" Tsukishima caught himself and lowered his voice to an angry hiss. "We're looking at an apartment aren't we? Can we please just do that already?”

"Kei, I love you," Kuroo said fervently, all the stress he'd been carrying around popping like a bubble, leaving behind relieved euphoria. He grabbed Tsukishima by the shoulders and kissed him like he had wanted to in the train station, him like he was trying to make up for the weeks of not seeing each other. Tsukishima struggled for a split-second, and then sank into it, grabbing the front of Kuroo's jacket hard enough to wrinkle it. 

A throat cleared behind them, startling Kuroo into pulling away. 

"Hello, senpai," Tsukishima said heavily without looking. A woman with a clipboard and a no-nonsense suit was holding open the entryway door for them. 

"Hi, Tsukishima-kun,” she greeted, not bothering to hide her amusement. "And this must be your Kuroo-san. Get in here, this is a respectable neighborhood, you two."

"Won't be if you let us in," Kuroo whispered to Tsukishima, riding high on being called 'your Kuroo-kun.' Tsukishima elbowed him hard. "Oof!" 

The apartment was more than nice enough, neither of them cared that the tiny balcony overlooked the blank wall of the adjacent building, and if it was a little on the high end of their combined price range, it was still more reasonable than anything in Tokyo had been since the Showa Era.

"So. Want to move in with me?" Tsukishima asked, standing in the middle of the living room while Kuroo investigated the tiny closet holding just a vaccum cleaner. "Since you don't remember asking the first time."

"Yes," Kuroo straightened up immediately, a wide grin spreading over his face. "If you're sure you want to see me every day, and I definitely can't cook like your mom."

"Well." Tsukishima's mouth twitched into a small smile. "She said she'd make us all the karaage we wanted if I stopped sharing a wall with her room whenever you spent the night."

"Ouch!" Kuroo laughed, poking Tsukishima in the cheek right where it was turning pink. "I can see where you get that go for the throat attitude from."


End file.
